UPDATE: The search has begun to find the person - or people - who stole a car from a Landsborough business then abandoned it on the railway track where it was stuck and pushed 100m up the line by a freight train.

Commuters were thrown into chaos yesterday morning when the empty cattle freighter, estimated to be 670m long, travelling north smashed into the unoccupied car on the Maleny St level crossing at Landsborough about 4.45am.

Beerwah Police officer in charge, Senior Sergeant Kim Cavell, confirmed the silver Holden sedan had earlier been stolen from a business premises, and no one was in the car, or seen in the area when the train approached the crossing and collided with the car.

Snr Sgt Cavell said the train driver saw the vehicle as he approached the level crossing and used the emergency brake system.

The driver was unable to stop the train before striking the car, but the train had slowed before the impact.

The train pushed the car about 100m along the tracks before it came to a stop, littering both railway lines with debris, and closing the tracks.

"It was pretty lucky it was a freight train ... it would have been worse if it was a commuter train, with the potential for injury to passengers on board," Snr Sgt Cavell said.

"The driver took evasive action so that it wasn't a more serious collision with the car, and it was fortunate too that it wasn't a situation where someone was stuck on the railway tracks.

"It was a stolen vehicle discarded and the offender was nowhere to be seen."

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Paramedics assessed the train driver at the scene but escaped the collision uninjured.

Train services between Nambour and Caboolture were cancelled, and bus services put in place to replace trains, but commuters from Gympie to Roma St were warned to expect delays due to the crash.

Road traffic was diverted away from Maleny St where the train carriages blocked the level crossing until the wreckage of the car could be cleared and train modified and moved up the line.

A spokesman for Queensland Rail said train services resumed in both directions at 9.04am, and scheduled services were expected to run as normal, but some trains on the Sunshine Coast line were later delayed or cancelled.

The Maleny St level crossing was reopened to traffic about 9.10am.

Snr Sgt Cavell said Scenes of Crime officers were working with detectives to find the person who stole the car and left it on the railway tracks.

Anyone who has any information that could help police find the person responsible should phone Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.